Improvement in slates



C. G.- SHEPHERD.

Slate. No.1 98, 552. Patented Dec. 25, 1877.

(ham, 7 m i Wan UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

CHARLES C. SHEPHERD, OF PASSAIG, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT lN SLATES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 198,552, dated December 25, 1877; application filed July 20, 1877 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. SHEPHERD, of Passaic, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented an Improvement in School-Slates, of which the following is a specification:

I make use of a frame made of cylindrical pieces of wood, mitered at the corners, and grooved to receive the edges of the slate. The round strips of wood for the frame are more cheaply made than the flat strips heretofore generally used, and there are not any sharp angles or edges with which the hand comes in contact. Besides this, the cylindrical strips give the necessary thickness for the frame, to allow of the introduction of a box containing copy-slips, pencils, &c., without the frame bein g cumbersome.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a section of the slate, frame, and box; and Fig. 2 is a partial plan, representing the end of the slate and the box as open.

The slate at is surrounded by a frame, I), which frame is of round or cylindrical strips of wood, united at the corners and nailed or glued together, and there are grooves at the portions of frame that receive the edges of the slate a. The frame b projects beyond the end of the slate at sufficiently for the introduction of a box. This box is made with a back,

d, bent up at the edge that is contiguous to the slate into a groove for the edge of the slate, as at 2, and in so doing arecess is formed for the pencil 3 to lie in. There is a crosspiece, 13, against which the edge of the lid e closes. Said lid 0 is hinged at z, the pivot- Wire running into the Wood of the slateframe. A recess or incision at 5 in the slate-frame allows for inserting the nail beneath the cover, in order to lift such cover. In the box there may be partitions, and also arubber or eraser, l, and a ruler, 1". There is a copy-holder, h, made of a light frame of sheet metal. It is pivoted at 8 within the frame, and it receives the copy-slips of paper or other thin material inserted into the frame h, as at t, and this copy-holder can be closed down within the box beneath the cover 0, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, or it may be supported in an inclined position against the cover, as seen in Fig. 1, such copy-drawing or writing-slips being in a position to be easily seen or to be changed from time to time.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, with a slate and frame, of a sheet-metal box introduced between one edge of the slate and the frame, such metal box being recessed to receive the edge of the slate, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the slate, frame, and box, of a copyliolder hinged to the frame and folding into the box, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 17th day of July, A. D. 1877.

CHAS. C. SHEPHERD.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, WILLIAM G. MOTT. 

